Shoe rack



Filed Nov. 13, 1931 Fig.1.

AWE/Wm? Q-QWQDQDQ 3 Tm WYMM Patented Feb. 27, 1934 UNITED STATES SHOERACK Charles Turner Jones, Leicester, England, as-

signor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J acorporation of New Jersey Application November 13, 1931', Serial No.574,831 In Great Britain November 18, 1930 4 Claims.

This invention relates to racks and is illustrated as embodied in a shoerack of a type used for holding and transporting shoes during theirmanufacture.

A typical example of racks of the type referred to is disclosed inUnited States Letters Patent No. 1,556,425, granted October 6, 1925,upon an application filed in the name of W. E. Coombes et -al., anddisclosing a rack comprising a plurality of paddle pins constructed andarranged to support shoes between operations performed upon the shoesand while the shoes are moved from one place of operation to another. Inmaking use of such racks, it is customary to place upon the racks lotsof partially completed shoes and successively to locate the racks inposition adjacent to a machine or work bench within reach of theoperator who is to perform an'operation upon the shoes. The operatorthen usually picks up a shoe from a rack so located, performs anoperation upon the shoe, and returns it to the rack, this being repeateduntil all of the shoes in the rack have been operated upon. The rack isthen removed, another rack is advanced to the I place of operation, andthe cycle is repeated. In

handling shoes in the manner above outlined the movements of theoperator in picking up a shoe from a rack and returning it to the rack,repeated hundreds or perhaps thousands of times during a day, willconsume a substantial amount of time and will require considerableeffort. Consequently, it is desirable to expedite, as much as possible,the operation of handling the shoes. In view of the foregoing, it is anobject of the present invention to provide a shoe rack use of which,

Without sacrificing any of the advantages of shoe racks as heretoforeconstructed, will facilitate the handling of shoes.

To this end, the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises, in ashoe rack of the type referred to, a series of shoe-supporting members,successive members of the series throughout the length of the rack beingshaped to provide shoereceiving recesses which converge at one side ofthe rack so that shoes carried upon the members in the recesses willextend toward a common point. This construction is advantageous in thatan operator in performing an operation upon a lot of shoes usuallystands in a definite position relatively to a machine or to a workbench, and, when a rack, constructed as above set forth, is so locatedthat the shoe-receiving recesses converge toward the point where theoperator stands, the removal and replacement of the shoes are greatlyexpedited in that the operator can readily grasp any shoe in the rack byrotating his body slightly and by extending his arm in the direction ofthe shoe, the shoe being withdrawn by a natural movement of the armsubstantially in a straight line toward the operators body. Thus thedistance through which the shoes are moved and consequently the effortrequired to move them are materially reduced, thereby contributing tothe efficiency of the operator.

Other objects and features of the invention. will be apparent from theaccompanying detailed de: scription when taken in connection with thedrawing and will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a shoe rack embodying the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View taken along lines II-II of Fig. 1.

As illustrated in the drawing, the rack comprises vertically extendingframe members 10 formed of channel sections secured together at theends-of the rack by braces 12, one of which is shown in Fig. 2, and byinclined channel members 14, which are joined by spaced longitudinalmembers 16. Carried by the frame members is an inclined wooden shelf 18preferably comprising a plurality of sections 20 which rest upon themembers 16 and are secured thereto by screws 22. Extendinglongitudinally of the rack and to the rear of the sections 20 is a backrail 24 which serves to prevent articles from sliding off the top of theshelf due to its inclination. The sections 20 are provided with reduced,outwardly extending, fiat, paddle-shaped portions 26 which are arrangedin a series extending longitudinally of the rack and each of whichconstitutes a shoe-supporting member or pin. The shoe-supporting membersor pins 26 have curved, beveled, side edge portions 28, conforminggenerally to the shapes of the side portions of uppers of shoes to becarried in the rack. Each of the edge portions 28, in conjunction withthe edge portion of the next adjacent member, serves to support oppositesides of a shoe positioned between the members bottom side up. The edgeportions 28 are spaced to form recesses 30 for the reception of shoes,such as shoe 32, side portions of which are engaged by the said edgeportions 28. The shoe-supporting members 26 extend in differentdirections angularly of the longitudinal axis of the rack, so that themembers extend in directions which converge on one side of the rack. Theshoe-receiving recesses 30 also converge, the edge portions 28 of themembers 26 being so shaped as to define recesses the axes of whichconverge at a common point at one side of the rack. As a result of this,the longitudinal axes of shoes positioned upon the members in therecesses are directed toward a common point at one side of the rack sothat, when a shoe is to be placed on the supporting members 26 orremoved therefrom, it can be moved substantially in a straight linetoward or from the common point.

In order to raise the foreparts of the shoe slightly above the surfaceof the shelf 18, thereby to assist in the positioning of the shoes uponthe supporting members, there is provided a toe rest 34 extending acrossthe shelf and slightly to the rear of the recesses 30. The toe rest isheld in position by dowels 36 which engage the walls of slots 38 in theshelf. To provide for the carrying of small shoes, the shell also has apair of slots 40 positioned forwardly of the slots 38 and in which thedowels 36 can be positioned to locate the toe rest 34 in a position inadvance of that shown in Fig. 1.

In supporting a shoe upon the rack, the shoe is positioned in the rackbottom-up with the top of the shoe located in one of the recesses 30with the toe portion resting upon the toe rest 34 and with the oppositesides of the forepart in engagement with edge portions 28 of adjacentmembers 26. When so positioned the shoe will be held against lateralmovement, thereby preventing likelihood of such contact with adjacentshoes as would injure them. The inclination of the members 26 assists inretaining the shoes in the rack during movement of the latter.

In the use of the rack, the operator places the rack near a machine orwork bench where an operation upon the shoes is to be performed and solocates the rack relatively to the position in which he stands that hisbody is substantially at the point of convergence of the recesses. He isthen in position readily to reach and to grasp a shoe supported uponmembers 26 in any of the recesses 30 merely by turning his body slightlyand can move the shoes one at a time substantially in a straight linetoward and from the positions in which they are carried in the rack withthe result that the positioning of shoes in the recesses and the removalof shoes from the rack for operation upon them can be accomplished withcomparatively little effort.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A shoe rack comprising a frame, a plurality of shoe-supportingmembers carried by the frame, each of the members having edge portionsdefining shoe-receiving recesses the axes of which converge toward acommon point at one side of the rack to facilitate removal of shoescarried by the members in the direction of the point.

2. A shoe rack comprising a frame and a series of shoe-supportingmembers carried by the frame, successive members of the seriesthroughout the length of the rack being shaped to provide shoereceivingrecesses which converge with respect to each other at one side of therack.

3. A shoe rack comprising a frame and shoesupporting members carried bythe frame and having each spaced edge portions cooperating with the edgeportions of adjacent members to engage shoes carried in the rack, saidedge portions being so shaped that the shoes carried thereby throughoutthe length of the rack are positioned with their axes converging towarda common point located at one side of the rack.

4. A shoe rack comprising a frame and a plurality of shoe-supportingmembers mounted in the frame, each of said members having an edgeportion constructed and arranged to engage one side of a shoe carried inthe rack bottom up and so related to the edge portions of the othermembers that the axes of all the shoes carried by the members willconverge toward a point at one side of the rack.

CHARLES TURNER JONES.

